Many consumers own several electronic devices, each of which includes a processor, a display, a memory, and a communication module for communicating with other electronic devices. Such electronic devices can include a digital picture frame, a cell phone, a Smart Phone, a digital music player, a digital camera, a digital camcorder, an electronic book reader (e-book), a display panel with a processor and a memory, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pocket personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a laptop PC, a notebook PC, and a desktop PC. Most of these also have an input device and audio processing capabilities.
Current electronic devices have only limited ability to inter-operate with other electronic devices. Interoperability, if any, between devices is largely application-specific. For example, a desktop PC running Microsoft® Outlook® can interoperate with certain PDA's, such as the Hewlett-Packard® Pocket PC, to synchronize mail folders, contacts, tasks and other data. In a synchronization operation, the desktop PC is a controlling device and the Pocket PC is a controlled device. An application on the desktop PC, Microsoft® ActiveSync®, allows the user to specify which data will be synchronized, and the method of synchronization. The Pocket PC has a corresponding ActiveSync® agent which responds to the requests by ActiveSync® on the desktop PC. The ActiveSync® agent on the Pocket PC permits configuration of some parameters of the synchronization process. There is no permission set on the Pocket PC, associated with an identifier of the desktop PC, permitting the desktop PC to control the display of the Pocket PC independent of the ActiveSync® application. Other software tools, similar to ActiveSync®, exist for synchronizing music between a desktop PC and a digital music player, and for backing up contact information on a cell phone to a server. Synchronization applications do not enable an electronic device to specify a set of control permissions characterizing the control that the electronic device will permit to a detected and identified controlling device, independent of the synchronization application.
Current electronic devices do not enable selective control of a resource on the electronic device, by a controlling electronic device, according to a set of control permissions associated with an identifier of the controlling device, and independent of a specific software application.